The bad trial of parliamentary commissions of inquiry

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This constitutional tool, available to senators and deputies to monitor the actions of the executive, is under fire from critics. Deemed too "political" by the right, these commissions nevertheless serve to establish the dysfunctions of the state.

Parliamentary commissions of inquiry, although designed to exercise parliamentary control over the executive, are considered too "political" by right-wing parties. © Xose Bouzas

Should we separate the MP from the politician? The question is absurd. Yet it is almost in these strange terms that the media debate around parliamentary commissions of inquiry is being posed today. They are said to be a "trap" for the bosses ( Les Échos ), or even "ideological tribunals" ( Le Figaro ) which "exalt a whiff of the guillotine" (CNews).

Elected officials are also getting involved, such as Marc Fesneau, president of the Modem group in the National Assembly, who denounced the "prejudicial trial" and "Stalinism" of the commission of inquiry into school violence, following François Bayrou's hearing on the Bétharram affair. Even the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, found fault. According to the Macronist, there would be...